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DUBAI, UAE: Karate is set to make its debut as a discipline at the fourth Arab Women Sports Tournament (AWST) – the largest pan-Arab women’s sporting event – which takes place across 10 venues in the UAE’s northern emirate Sharjah in February, state news agency WAM reported.
The martial art is the ninth sporting discipline to feature in the AWST 2018 program, which will see 68 clubs from 16 Arab countries competing in the 11-day event, which is themed “The World is Your Court, Together Victorious,” the tournament is being held.
The UAE will be represented in karate by the Sharjah Sports Club for Women and Al Nasr, which will compete alongside eight other Arab clubs. Karate will be the most widely represented sporting discipline in the AWST 2018, despite being the first time it has featured.
“The SOC decided to include karate in this year’s edition of the AWST in order to allow women who practice the contact sport the opportunity to compete in a women-friendly sporting environment and to test their combat skills and tactics against fellow karate exponents from other Arab countries. This will help ready them for participation in various international karate championships in the future,” said Nada Askar Al Naqbi, Deputy Head of AWST’s Supreme Organizing Committee.